kosmos: Ghost hunting

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has confirmed the existence of ghosts. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, science writers and skeptics. Science historian Brian Regal described ghost hunting as "an unorganized exercise in futility". Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect "evidence" supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters also refer to themselves as paranormal investigators. Ghost hunters use a variety of electronic devices, includin…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 72

Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal and reality television series. The original series aired from October 6, 2004 until October 26, 2016 on Syfy. The original program spanned eleven seasons with 230 episodes, not including 10 specials. The series was revived in early 2019 and aired its twelfth and thirteenth seasons from August 21, 2019, to May 27, 2020, on A&E, after which it was cancelled and then revived for its fourteenth season only months later on Discovery+, which started airing on October 31, 2021. Season 15 began October 1, 2022 on Travel Channel. Season 16 of Ghost Hunters started airing on Travel Channel on April 6, 2023. No plans for further seasons have been announced by Wa…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 80

Diffusion of online purchases, including via handheld devices, 2007 and 2013

Evidence: 34 • authority: 88

Ghost Hunting Groups and Ghost Hunters in Germany: Results of Two Online Surveys. We conducted two online surveys with German ghost hunting groups (GHGs) and individual ghost hunters. The first questionnaire targeted entire teams, the second individual members. Our goals were (1) to understand the current GHG scene in Germany—their composition, investigation approaches, and exceptional experiences (ExEs)—and (2) to gain insight into the people engaged in this time- and resource intensive hobby. We developed two questionnaires and included two established scales in the individual version to assess exceptional experiences (Fragebogen zur Phänomenologie außergewöhnlicher Erfahrungen [Questionn…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 88

Remediation and Spectral Bibliography: Ghost Hunting in Early Modern Books. This paper explores the layers of remediation and hidden labour embedded in the digitization of early modern texts, focusing on how metadata traces in digital archives can both reveal and obscure the material history of books. Using a bibliographic workflow, this study examines the challenges of distinguishing between material artifacts of the original printing process and distortions introduced through digitization. Through a case study of Thomas May’s The Tragedie of Cleopatra, I analyze metadata from the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) and Internet Archive, alongside correspondence with archivists, to recons…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Phasmophobia is a 2020 paranormal horror game developed and was published by British indie game studio Kinetic Games (based in Southampton). The game became available in early access for Microsoft Windows with virtual reality support in September 2020. In the game, one to four players take on the role of ghost hunters who work to complete a contract where they must identify the type of ghost haunting a designated site and complete other optional objectives. Phasmophobia rose in popularity after many Twitch streamers and YouTubers played it during October 2020, becoming the sixth-most popular game on Twitch of that month and the best selling game on Steam globally for several weeks from Octo…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Within ghost hunting and parapsychology, electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices. Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. Enthusiasts consider EVP to be a form of paranormal phenomenon often found in recordings with static or other background noise. Scientists regard EVP as a form of auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds as voices in one's own language) and a pseudoscience promulgated by popular culture. Prosaic explanations for EVP include apophenia (perceiving patterns in random information),…